Interview with Tobias Sammet

We just made an exclusive interview with AVANTASIA/EDGUY frontman Tobias Sammet to speak about the upcoming AVANTASIA albums “The Wicked Symphony” and “Angel Of Babylon” scheduled to be released on April 3, 2010.

A few excerpts from the interview follow:

Tobias Sammet about Michael Kiske collaboration:

Micha is always a sure shot! He’s been the voice that made me want to become a singer 20 years ago. So he is responsible for that vibrato in my voice, haha!… After all those years he is still the best on his field. I told him a few months ago: “Michi, I know you don’t want to hear that, but when you sing those ‘Eagle Fly Free’ type of songs with a positive vibe and an anthemic melody in high pitched range, there is no one better than you.” ‘Eagle Fly Free’ defined HELLOWEEN, Michi Kiske defined HELLOWEEN.

Fanclub question: Did you find it familiar when the critics that always had/have Kiske that when he releases a solo album to say “that’s not metal so it’s a shit” with songs like ‘Lost In Space‘ and ‘Carry Me Over‘ of last AVANTASIA?

Tobias Sammet: Of course. I know exactly what it feels like. But you know what? I know what to do, and nobody else is allowed to tell me, they call that the spirit of Rock’n’Roll! Let’s make no compromises, let’s raise our fist and all that bullshit. And when somebody puts those phrases to action some people immediately start to whine.

People said “This is not AVANTASIA!” Of course it is: Just read the album cover, it says “AVANTASIA” in big letters, haha!

Tobias Sammet about selling music by internet:

To be honest, I really hate listening to music that doesn’t have a “physical layout”, a “face”, a “look”. I wanna have the vinyl, the cover… To me “Bat Out Of Hell” (MEAT LOAF) is a pretty orange album, whereas “A Night At The Opera” (QUEEN) is an extremely white album. You know, I even know what KISS‘ “Dressed To Kill”-album smells like. What do bits and bytes smell like? What do they look like? Everybody reads e-books and makes friends on Myspace and all that shit.

What about the good old days when it was a ritual to take a train into town, go to your local record dealer and unwrap the album package of DEF LEPPARD‘s “Hysteria” on your way home. It was a ritual!